Keeping Drinks Cold in Style

Item: Spherical Ice Tray Set

Price: $16

Where to Buy: MoMA Store Online

Review: Not much of a bartender? With spherical ice cubes, the star of the show isn't the liquor but instead what's keeping it cold.

No more humdrum square cubes or crushed ice that quickly waters down fine libations. But talk-of-the-town ice cubes come with a price-- namely, time. Since each tray molds only two spheres, you're either going to spend two weeks making enough cubes for your backyard barbecue, or you're having one small party.

Image from: MoMA

Old School with the Rubik's Cube

Item: Rubik's Cube

Price: $9.45

Where to Buy: Amazon.com

Review: I had all but forgotten about the Rubik's Cube. Then I got two reminders within just a few weeks of each other.

#1: I was on the subway and a man entered the train selling something out of bag. Usually it's some kind of booklet or piece of junk. This time it was small Rubik's Cubes for a dollar apiece. Demand was so high, he ran out of them and had to turn away at least one customer in our car.

#2: Jon Stewart razzed astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson of the American Museum of Natural History for completing the Rubik's Cube in the green room of The Daily Show. That guy's a genius.

So while I haven't picked up a Rubik's Cube in years (a decade? More?), I wouldn't mind trying. And I'm guessing you know a few people who would too.

Image from: Amazon

A Gift Full of Shiitake

Item: Shiitake Mushroom Log

Price: $43.95 (includes shipping & handling)

Where to Buy: ShiitakeMushroomLog.com

Review: I can guarantee with, oh, 99% accuracy that the person you are buying a gift for does not have a mushroom log. Go ahead-- be the person who changes that.

Surprisingly, the mushroom log doesn't have any special lighting or temperature requirements. You get your first mushrooms 6 to 10 days after soaking the log in cold water.

The kit also comes with an 8-recipe booklet. Bonus!

My husband got a mushroom log as a gift several years ago (not from this company, I believe), and admittedly it didn't work well. I'm not sure we ever got more than a handful of mushrooms. But I will also admit that we kinda forgot about it and I'm sure we never watered it as we should have.

Anyway, a mushroom log is the epitome of a gift that keeps on giving. The receiver gets shiitakes for four years besides an excellent topic of conversation at all future potlucks.

Image from: ShiitakeMushroomLog.com

Having a (Literal) Ball

Item: Send-a-Ball bouncy balls

Price: $19.95

Where to Buy: SENDaBALL

Review: If you're never content with a Hallmark card, Send-a-Ball was created for you.

This Chicago-based company sends inflated "greeting balls" to the address of your choice, in a rainbow of colors for a variety of causes.

Birthdays: "Have a Ball on Your Birthday." Babies: "Have a Ball with Your New Baby." Sickness: "Bounce Back Soon." Can't find the message you're looking for? Create your own for no additional charge.

You might not be thrilled spending 20 bucks on a bouncy ball, but your recipient will surely have a ball receiving it.

Image from: SENDaBALL

Moon Globe

Item: Moon Globe

Price: $49.95

Where to Buy: Scientifics

Review: I have no less than five globes.

OK, two of them are banks the size of softballs, but that's still a lot of globes for a small Brooklyn apartment.

In addition to two normal-sized replicas of Earth: A moon globe. Until I met my now-husband, I never even knew such a thing existed. The moon globe was one of the few things I was truly excited about merging with my own stuff when we got married. (I wasn't quite as thrilled about the old Nintendo magazines he insisted could not be stored in the trash can, but that's another story.)

With only different shades gray, the moon globe certainly isn't as colorful as it's Earth counterparts. But it is surprisingly detailed and a thoughtful gift for a cartography-minded friend or relative.

Image from: scientificsonline.com

Duct Tape Wallet

Item: Duck Tape Wallet

Price: $21.95

Where to Buy: Ducti

Review: When I used to wrack my brain for a gift for my boyfriend-now-husband, my mom would suggest a watch or a wallet.

No doubt those are classic gifts, but why not go for something a little more unique but still in the same vein?

The duct tape wallet is sure to get a smile and a second glance from your guy and anyone who's around when he pulls it from his pocket.

The best part? When the wallet starts to fall apart -- as all billfolds eventually do -- it's easily fixable. With duct tape.

But no need: There's a lifetime replacement warranty.

Image from: Ducti

Reading is Sexy shirt

Item: Reading is Sexy shirt

Price: $16.95

Where to Buy: BuyOlympia.com

Review: The written word is not dead. At least, not yet.

I loved this logo as soon as I saw it on a bumper sticker given to me by a member of my old book club. When I heard about the shirt, I knew it had to be mine.

Readers get a bad reputation. No, my nose doesn't rotate from the middle of a book to waving high in the air. No, I don't go around shushing people in libraries- nor do I want to. Readers can be just as witty and sassy as any illiterate in the bunch!

OK, well maybe we are just the tiniest bit snooty.

In any case, readers of the world can unite behind this sexy tee.

Image from: BuyOlympia.com

LED Faucet Light

Item: LED Faucet Light

Price: $12.99 - $14.99

Where to Buy: ThinkGeek

Review: Yeah, I'll admit it: I'm a geek. But you don't have to be a geek to think the LED Faucet Light from ThinkGeek is decidedly cool.

Install the light attachment to any faucet, and like magic the water appears a bright blue each time you wash your hands, water your plants or give your thirsty cats a cold drink. Or opt for the blue light that turns red whenever the water reaches 89 degrees.

It's a hot-cool-practical-geeky gift and conversation-starter all in one. And it's cheap!

Image from: ThinkGeek